A weekend to remember-UPDATED

Okay seriously.

Take back everything I said about the ingenuity of the chip for the race and so on and so forth...

WHAT are they thinking?

Okay, I'll stop ranting and explain.

Little did I know they go by the gun time, NOT the chip time to determine race placement. This is fine, if you're in the front of the humongous mob I told you about. BUT if you are in the middle let's just say for synopsis' sake, you are totally screwed from the beginning because it takes you 30 seconds longer to reach the starting line! I looked here at the race results and realized I should have been in 2nd place, IF you go by the fastest run time. 2ND! I am overwhelmingly happy to know that I ran the race, not in 26 min. 45 seconds like I thought I had, but rather 26 min. 11 seconds, people!! Yippee!

{sigh} Ah, well. You live and you learn. I'll just have to save winning 2nd place for another day. {wink-wink}

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Original Post:

WE DID IT!

We recently had a weekend to remember. Memorable is much too weak a word. It was so incredibly special, uniting and along with dear friends, the memories and feelings are forever integrated into the fabric of my heart.

Fellowship, good food, games, friendly-{ahem}-competition, and most importantly our first RACE!

My husband and I, our friends David, Michael and Jenn all went over the evening before the race and enjoyed time away, visiting and eating! We also played 18 holes of miniature golf, which I played quite horridly on, but was glad to be out of the way of David and my husband's "competitiveness"(which was quite fun to be a spectator of I must admit).

We stopped by the park to pick up our race numbers the night before as well and walked around enjoying the beauty of it, as well as reveling in the anticipation of what the next day would bring!

We were up bright and early to get to our perspective races, and interestingly enough someone with quite the intelligent intuitiveness came up with calculating individual times by each race participant wearing a chip around their ankle. You all start in a messy mob and once you, personally pass the starting line, as you watch your step, dodging people, cones and strollers, your 'personal' time clock starts and doesn't stop until you, and your ankle chip, pass the finish line! Really ingenious. The start was really fun because you're in the middle of this excited mob of racers and when the gun goes off, it really is an adventure just getting through the first half-mile as the gobs of people begin to thin out and you break into a rhythm of your own. I totally started to veer off with the 10k runners at one point, but thankfully caught my mistake with only a minor 10 seconds of damage at the most. It was a scenic run on the greenbelt beside the river and in the shade of huge trees. At one point I grabbed a water cup as I passed through an aid station. As I continued to run, I was able to splash a gulp into my dry mouth. I felt quite like an official racer at this point. Heehee. Over the course of the race, a few people passed me, I passed quite a few more... even a few men, which I felt slightly bad for. Our reunions at the finish line were extremely emotional, filled with congratulatory exchanges and excited hugs and handshakes even as some of us were about ready to collapse!

If you remember this post, you'll already know a friend and I have been training for months to participate in our first running race, ever! I was SO glad that my husband and I had scoped the race terrain out prior to the race. There is something oddly comforting to know you've been there before and can envision yourself running and finishing the race. Both Jenn and I finished the 5k with flying-mommy- colors!



My husband and our friend, David were even more ambitious and participated in the half-marathon without having trained much at all. They finished, though, and not shabbily either.





We have yet to get the final results from this race but my good friend, despite feeling a bit fluish that race morning, was able to put one of her best times down in her race. And myself, well, adrenaline and insomnia... yeah, not a good combination the night before a race. I ran on 3 hours of restless sleep but still put down one of my best times as well! I was even able to sprint the last 20-30 yards to the finish line. As far as I can remember, as the quickly posted results at the finish line were being flocked with crowds of people much like vultures to fresh meat, I was 5th in my gender and age group out of approx. 35 ladies, 77th overall, men and women all ages out of approx. 500 participants and my overall time was 3.1 miles in 26 minutes and 45 seconds. I'm genuinely happy. I knew going into this race that to win, or at least be in the top 3, I would have to put in 8 to 8.25 minute miles, and because of sickness a couple weeks before the race and other priorities, along with being a tired mommy to many small children, I just couldn't get the speed work in that I needed to improve my time, well, in time. That's okay, though. I've only been running for 4 months, after a break of 10 years, so I can give myself a eensy teensy break. Really, this race was more about having something to work towards, something to look forward to at the end of ALL of the hard work and effort we've been putting into getting into running shape. It's all been well worth it, and the pay-off was spectacularly fulfilling.



We may be goofy runners, who wear the shirts we worked hard to get, that prove our participation in the grueling event but...

we're proud goofy runners.

And it feels GREAT!!

What's next you may ask?

Well, now, after a week or so of "rest", we will get back to it. Train our hearts out. Speed work, distance and endurance training. And next time, we're going for the 10k...

I can hardly wait!!!